"I worked harder for the team and I changed my game. With the work I did, it paid off."

Now Taarabt and QPR - who only avoided relegation on the final day of the season - are looking to bigger and brighter things.

The club plans to move to a state-of-the-art training complex next summer and an announcement is expected soon on a new stadium.

The Hoops have also been active in the transfer market, with Park Ji-sung becoming their sixth new addition of the transfer window on Monday.

For Taarabt, it is hard to believe how far QPR have come since he turned two loan spells into a permanent transfer from Tottenham Hotspur in August 2010.

Asked if he could have envisaged playing alongside the likes of Park when he first joined, he said: "No, not at all because when I signed we were in the Championship. I was not thinking of the Premier League.

"Even last year when we were there we were not thinking the club would have this ambition and sign players like Park Ji-sung, but the chairman has big ambitions

"We have a great manager and they want to improve so that is why I have taken the decision to sign a new long-term contract with Queens Park Rangers."

As well as signing a new deal, Taarabt has been handed the number 10 jersey at QPR - worn previously by the likes of Stan Bowles, Rodney Marsh and Kevin Gallen.

The move, which will see the vacated number seven shirt worn by new signing Park, has been welcomed by the Morocco international.

"I am very proud to wear that shirt," he said. "I am very happy to have this number.